Quick Picks: Car Czar’s Possible Movie Role and Lobbying Lost
Before Steven Rattner achieved the lofty title of car czar in the Obama administration, he may have been the “senior executive” named in an SEC complaint alleging Quadrangle Group, which Rattner co-founded, is caught up in an alleged pay-to-play scheme involving New York’s pension fund, reports the Wall Street Journal. Said executive allegedly agreed to buy the rights to a low-budget movie named “Chooch,” co-produced by the deputy comptroller, and was then promised a $100 million investment.
Also, the shuttering of Washington lobbying powerhouse PMA Group after the FBI raided its offices last year is being felt in Congress, the Washington Post reports. FEC reports show that three senior members of the House Appropriations Committee, Peter J. Visclosky (D-IN), James Moran (D-VA) and John P. Murtha (D-PA)—who has ties to the lobbying firm’s founder—saw large individual donations drop 76 percent in the first quarter of this year, compared to the same period last year.
Check out more of our roundup of the best investigative stories around the Web. Was there a story we missed? Please keep sending us your picks or include them in the comments section below.
Get Updates
Our Hottest Stories
- Donations to Scott Walker Flagged as Potential Fraud
- In Race For Better Cell Service, Men Who Climb Towers Pay With Their Lives
- Billion Dollar Bait & Switch: States Divert Foreclosure Deal Funds
- Pardon Attorney Torpedoes Plea for Presidential Mercy
- Patient Died at New York VA Hospital After Alarm Was Ignored
- Introducing the ProPublica Patient Harm Community on Facebook
- Built for a Simpler Era, OSHA Struggles When Tower Climbers Die
- Finding Oscar: Massacre, Memory and Justice in Guatemala
- Got Student Loans? Share Your Documents With Us
- Remember Stuxnet? Why the U.S. is Still Vulnerable
- Donations to Scott Walker Flagged as Potential Fraud
- Pardon Attorney Torpedoes Plea for Presidential Mercy
- In Race For Better Cell Service, Men Who Climb Towers Pay With Their Lives
- Air Force Pilots Balk at Flying the World’s Most Expensive Fighter Jet
- Watchdog Group Calls for Probe of Lobbyists Behind Congressional Trip to Taiwan
- Patient Died at New York VA Hospital After Alarm Was Ignored
- Billion Dollar Bait & Switch: States Divert Foreclosure Deal Funds
- Broadcasters Sue to...Block Transparency
- Happy Graduation! Here's The Best, Most Depressing Journalism on Student Debt
- Remember Stuxnet? Why the U.S. is Still Vulnerable






